Dedication was another Double Take title that didn’t win me over with its first issue. I think it’s an important issue to the overall universe, but its characters and content just didn’t do much in the way of providing interest.
The issue takes place in a grocery store just as its closing. The owner is one of those businessmen that wonders why he’s in business. He’s one of our main characters it seems, but we meet one to two other leads. The gist of the issue is that the zombies break in and start eating the food. This was already a concept teased in Rise, but it’s spelled out clear as day in Dedication. Basically, the zombies just want to eat and they’ll settle on anything that’s in their way. It’s interesting and changes the rules of the universe, but the rest of it was pretty meh.

I didn’t particularly like any of the characters or want to root for them. Our female characters are pretty limited in their dialogue and the only one that shows any real personality may not be with the series by the next issue. I’m sure you’re picking up what I’m putting down when I say that.

It’s not terrible, but it could have been a lot better. Much like the strange narration in Medic, there’s a bit of that in Dedication as well. It’s just strange that the other characters in the scene never say anything or even attempt to break up the dialogue. Unlike in Spring, which was weird to begin with, the same narrative device doesn’t work here and I hope that it’s dropped completely.

I liked the style of the art, but I think it ends up being pretty limited due to the story. We’re in one setting and it’s a grocery store. I know that seems uninteresting, but think of The Mist. That’s one location and it manages to be interesting, but here I think the setting suffers from the lack of interest in the characters. They really need to be developed more otherwise I’m afraid the art will be choked back by the story. Otherwise, I liked the thick line work and the coloring for the story. I almost wish this art team was on Remote instead.

Rather than talk about the print quality, paper stock, price and the ads that I love so much from all of these Double Take titles, I’m going to talk about the opening. Inside each comic is a credit page that has a one panel humor strip that is zombie themed. I didn’t want to talk about it in every review so I saved it for just one. I liked this comic and while they seem out of place, they’re not. There’s something about them that fits the overall presentation and theme of the comic. There’s also two one-sheets that vary throughout the different issues. One shows the “new” tech of the era, while the other is a page out of a TV guide. I liked both as they remind you of the era you’re jumping into.

While Dedication wasn’t my favorite first issue, I do like what it’s done for the universe. I’m hopeful that something better will happen in the next issue and that the creators will focus on developing these characters into characters we’ll actually care about. The key to any good zombie death is either gore or just heartbreak from watching a character you thought would make it, die. We’ll see what happens with this series in the next issue.